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Soulfly
Soulfly is a band formed in 1997 based in Phoenix, Arizona. The original lyrical content revolved around spirituality and religious themes with later albums encompassing other themes including war, violence, aggression, slavery, hatred and anger. Soulfly is led by former frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 1996. The band has released nine studio albums, two EPs, 19 singles, and one DVD video. Their debut album, Soulfly, was released on April 21, 1998, while their newest album, Savages, was released on September 30, 2013. Their next album is currently in the making. Soulfly incorporate many styles of metal with Brazilian tribal and . All of their first six studio albums debuted on the United States Billboard 200, with a peak position at number 32 for their second album, Primitive. Soulfly has been certified by the . The band has gone through numerous line-up changes, with Cavalera being the only constant member. History Formation Max Cavalera quitted Sepultura in 1996 because he was betrayed by other bandmates of firing the manager and Cavalera's wife, Gloria, a few months after the tragic death of his stepson and best friend Dana Wells. The leave made Max feel much more worried and difficult, "The hardest part was realizing that I had to continue without Sepultura, and I had to find the right people to do that. But the last thing I was gonna do was stop playing music or give up." Soon after the quote, Max relieved himself by coming to his mind about if one ends, the new one begins, using it to usher in his new era of music career by forming a new band. Max said the new band should be about spirituality while retaining music similar to that of Sepultura. He recuited with , , and to form the group. Then Max had his dream about the spiritual fly carrying away soul from Dana Well's dead body. The dream inspired him to name the band Soulfly. Debut album and Primitive (1998–2001) Cavalera was troubled during the recording of Soulfly's first album, due to dealing about the death of Dana Wells. On the band's website he said that he founded the band "with the idea of combined sounds and spiritual beliefs". The self-titled debut album was released in April 1998, and reached number 79 on the Billboard 200. In addition to the core band, which at the time consisted of (Jackson Bandeira) on guitar, on bass, and on drums, Soulfly featured , , and from , and from , from , formerly of Welsh band and now a member of , from and Jorge do Peixe and Gilmar Bola Oito from . The album was recorded at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California and was overseen by producer . In addition to fronting Soulfly, Cavalera also branched out into other areas not usually associated with heavy metal musicians. He became a speaker at music conventions, appearing at 's New Music Marathon in New York and Holland's Crossing Border Festival, both in late 1997, and sang a TV commercial for Sprite in Brazil. After recording the first album, Jackson Bandeira returned to Brazil with and was replaced by of for the live tour that followed. Soulfly played on the 1998 mainstage alongside , , and , and played small club tours around the world with bands such as and . After the world tour in support of Soulfly, Logan Mader was replaced by who had just been displaced by the break up of Snot. A variety of influences, including , appeared on 2000's Primitive, and it was the most successful album by the band in the U.S., reaching number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the independent charts. , from Chicago, replaced on drums for Primitive. The album featured a number of guest appearances as well, including of and , , of , of , Grady Avenell of , Cutthroat Logic, Babatunde and Asha Rabouin and was produced by . In addition, artwork was created by longtime artist . The release of the album was followed by world tours with the likes of , and . 3'', new line-up and ''Prophecy (2002–2004) In late 2001, Joe Nunez left Soulfly to join Stripping the Pistol, saying that it was "time for him to move on". Roy Mayorga departed from his band Medication to rejoin Soulfly for the recording of their third album. 3 was the first Soulfly album which was produced by Max Cavalera. Other musicians performing on 3'' included of , and guitarist and drummer , and Max's stepson . The album reached number 46 on the Billboard 200 in that year. After the release of ''3 '' on June 25, 2002, Soulfly toured throughout Europe and North America with bands such as , , , and . In September 2003, after the world tour for ''3, was fired from the band, and and both left the band in protest, leaving Cavalera as the sole remaining member for a period of three weeks. Cavalera recruited a new lineup in October 2003 for the recording of the album . Joe Nunez returned on drums with New Jersey native , formerly of , on guitar and Kentucky native Bobby Burns, formerly of , on bass. , formerly of at the time, also played bass on several of the album's songs. Max Cavalera explained on the band's website that he wanted to use different musicians as part of the group for each album. "This is an approach that I've wanted to do for a while. I never wanted Soulfly to be a band like , with the same four guys. On every Soulfly album, we've changed the line up and it will probably continue that way. In order to do that, I had to start from the inside out and bring in people who caught my attention, that I had never played with before, and create this." While a member of , Cavalera had shown an interest in as shown in , featuring elements of the music of Brazil's indigenous peoples. This approach continued on the Prophecy album, with Cavalera traveling to to record with traditional musicians. On the song "Moses", he worked with Serbian band , which also features reggae influences from one of his heroes, . Other tracks on the album feature instruments from the Middle Ages, sheepskin bagpipes, and Serbian Gypsies. Danny Marianino and Asha Rabouin returned as guest vocalists on Prophecy, as well, and Max Cavalera produced the album. Prophecy was released on March 30, 2004 and in April of that year had reached a peak of number 82 on the Billboard 200, although it has reached the top 50 of the Australian album charts. Soulfly followed the album release with tours supporting and . In February 2005, Soulfly released their first DVD, entitled The Song Remains Insane. This was a biography of the band, containing live footage from all over the globe, interviews, and all of the band's music videos. In August 2005, reissued their self-titled first album as part of the label's 25th anniversary celebration. Dark Ages (2005–2007) In December 2004, as recording was beginning for Soulfly's fifth studio album, the band was rocked by several tragedies that affected the outcome of the album. On December 8, Max's friend was shot to death while playing onstage in Ohio, and on December 10, Cavalera's 8 month old grandson Moses unexpectedly died due to health complications. The following fall, on October 4, 2005, Dark Ages was released. Many critics have described Dark Ages as a return to Cavalera's roots of the early days; however, the world metal influence found on the first four Soulfly albums is still present. In fact, this time, Cavalera traveled to five different countries — Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States — in order to record all the sounds that he desired to have on the new album. The core band on Dark Ages still consisted of , , Joe Nunez, and Bobby Burns, and on this album, came back to lend his talents to a couple of tracks, vocalist sang on "Innerspirit", vocalist and Russian singer Paul Fillipenko of FAQ screamed on the influenced "Molotov", and Max's stepson, Ritchie Cavalera from Phoenix-based band Incite, sang on "Staystrong". Soulfly supported Dark Ages on a world tour with various bands such as , , , and that has stretched through North America, South America, Europe, Russia, and Australia. On August 17, 2006, Soulfly played the 10th Annual D-Low Memorial show with several guest artists including and , the latter of whom who currently plays with . Most notably, Max was reunited onstage for the first time in 10 years with his brother . Max and Igor formed together in the early 1980s, but had not played together since Max's departure in 1997. Igor joined the band mid-way through the set for a jam on the drums and stayed onstage to play the classics " " and " " on Joe Nunez's drum kit. In the time between legs of Soulfly's world tour for Dark Ages and afterwards, members of Soulfly stayed extremely busy by focusing on projects and activities outside of the band. Max Cavalera guested on the single " " with vocalist during a visit to Germany, went to Russia in January 2007 to guest on the album Circus Dogs by Russian hardcore band FAQ and played on Saint-Petersbourg with Radiohead album sound producer Nike "Naik" Groshin, played a surprise jam session in with of and , and spent time in Arizona writing for future releases. Marc Rizzo spent the year on the road throughout North America playing his solo flamenco-meets-shred metal, gaining him further recognition as one of the world's premier metal guitarists. Earlier in 2005 Marc had released his debut solo album, Colossal Myopia, through , and in 2007 he prepared his follow-up, The Ultimate Devotion, which has now been released. Bobby Burns purchased a studio in Orlando, FL with his partner Tim Lau, revived his former band Primer 55, and worked on new releases for his Love Said No and King Street projects. In September 2006 Bobby suffered a mild stroke, was forced to sit out of Soulfly's North American tour, and his spot in the band was briefly filled by and . Joe Nunez worked on the development of several drum accessories with Slug Drums, and taught drum lessons and worked construction in Chicago. Soulfly ventured to Undercity Recording Studios in March 2007 to record a cover of the single "The Beautiful People" with Logan Mader producing. The song was later released in June 2007 by magazine in issue 1164 as part of their Higher Voltage compilation. During time in the studio, Max Cavalera also recorded vocals for the song "War Is My Destiny" with and for Ill Bill's second studio album, , expected to be released on August 26, 2008. Conquer and Omen (2008–2010) In August 2007, Soulfly did a tour that consisted of a mixture of festival and club shows through Europe before playing the 11th Annual D-Low Memorial Show in Tempe, AZ on August 31, 2007. also made their debut live performance at the show by opening for Soulfly. One week after performing the show, Soulfly went to Bobby Burns and Tim Lau's newly renovated Porch Studio in Orlando, FL to begin work on their sixth studio album, which Cavalera had begun writing during the summer. After working halfway through recording until September 29, Cavalera halted the session to travel throughout Egypt to record more sounds to integrate into the new songs. In November 2007, Cavalera returned to Orlando to complete tracking and the album was mixed by in early 2008. The album featured collaborations from and from . Soulfly released their sixth album entitled Conquer on July 29, 2008. Following the release of the album, the band toured the United States with Devastation and in the fall, toured Europe in winter of 2009 with Incite, played a small UK and European festivals during the spring and summer of 2009, and went on a fall 2009 U.S. headlining tour with , , and . Soulfly entered the Edge of the Earth Studios in Los Angeles, California on November 6, 2009 to begin recording their seventh album with Max Cavalera and Logan Mader both producing. Through a series of streaming web video updates, frontman Max Cavalera revealed on November 13, 2009 that the album would be called Omen and would feature guest appearances by of and of . Additionally, the album features performances on drums from Max's sons: Zyon Cavalera on a B-side cover of 's "Refuse-Resist" and Igor Cavalera (not to be confused with his brother of the same name) on a cover of 's "Your Life, My Life". Omen has been released worldwide on May 25, 2010. From May 13 – December 16, 2010, Soulfly conducted a world tour in support of their new album Omen. On July 18, 2010, bassist Bobby Burns posted following message on his Twitter profile: "To all the fans... SOULFLY and I have decided to part ways. Stay tuned for my next projects already in the works. Thanks 4 ur support!!!" Line up change, Enslaved and Savages (2011–2013) On July 1, 2011, Soulfly has announced that the group has recruited former and current , , and bassist into the band, replacing former bassist Bobby Burns, who left the group in July of last year. In August 2011, Joe Nunez was replaced by drummer . In September 2011, the band announced they entered the recording studio to make their next album due for an early 2012 release. In late October it was revealed that recording had finished, and Kinkade claimed that the new album is like " on crack". Confirmed guests on the album were Adam Warren of and of and , although Warren pulled out of recording and was replaced by frontman . In the December 2011 issue of , Cavalera stated that the main theme of the album will be slavery, with confirmed song titles "Slave", "Chains", "Legions" (a song about the Roman Empire), "Gladiator", "Redemption of Man by God" (featuring Dez Fafara), and "Revengeance" (with Max's 3 sons featuring: Zyon on drums, Richie on vocals and Iggor writing half the guitar riffs). The album was produced by with artwork from Marcelo Vasco, who has designed album artwork for bands such as Borknagar, , and . On December 6, the album title was announced to be Enslaved and release date of March 13, 2012. Soulfly performed at the 13th annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave-in-Rock, IL in August 2012. Throughout 2012, Soulfly have headlined the "Maximum Cavalera Tour", supported by Incite (fronted by Richie Cavalera) and Lody Kong (featuring Igor Cavalera Jr. and Zyon Cavalera). In October 2012 Kinkade announced his retirement from drumming, leaving Soulfly after their show in Bangkok. Max's son Zyon, who performed during the South America tour earlier in the year, will take over drums for the upcoming US tour and for the foreseeable future. In April 2013 Max announced Soulfly's intention to record more material after their tour, with producer , and confirmed on May 3 that Zyon would perform drums on their upcoming album. In July Max announced that the album would be called Savages. The band released the album on September 30 in the UK, October 1 in the US, and October 4 in Europe. Savages features a number of guest vocalists including Igor Cavalera of , of , of , and of . The tenth album (2014–present) On December 6, 2014 Max Cavalera confirmed through an interview that he will make a new Soulfly record. Cavalera began writing the tenth studio album on January 3, 2015. The album will be produced by and shall be released in late spring 2015 through . Musical style and influences Early in their career, people thought that Soulfly is neo-Sepultura in musical style, but Max Cavalera wants everyone to think of Soulfly as Soulfly and not as a new Sepultura. The band took heavy metal to the next level. "The thing about these guys is that they have the attitude that I wanted in a band, which is to make music, play with fire, and not worry about foolish things. These guys have that. It feels great to go in the rehearsal room and get goosebumps about being in a group again." Soulfly plays in a small variety of subgenres, such as , alongside tribal and world music. Early Soulfly albums play mostly in and styles. Later albums starting with Dark Ages have influences as they have lyrics about aggression, war, hatred, and violence. The latest albums have traces of in it. The biggest influence of Soulfly is obviously . The other bands that influence Soulfly are , , , , , , , and . On the other side, Soulfly influences . Band members ;Current members * Max Cavalera – , , (1997–present) * – , (2003–present) * – , (2011–present) * – , (2012–present) ;Former members * Jackson Bandeira (Lúcio Maia) – guitar (1997–1998) * – guitar (1998–1999) * – guitar (1999–2003) * – bass, backing vocals (1997–2003) * – drums, percussion (1997–1999, 2002–2003) * Bobby Burns – bass, backing vocals (2003–2010) * – drums, percussion (2000–2001, 2003–2011) * – drums, percussion (2011–2012) ;Former touring members * - guitar (1997) * – bass (2006) * – bass (2006) * Johny Chow – bass (2010–2011) * Kanky Lora - drums (2013, 2014) Timeline ImageSize = width:700 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:1997 till:31/12/2014 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1997 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_Releases LineData = at:21/04/1998 color:black layer:back at:26/09/2000 color:black layer:back at:25/06/2002 color:black layer:back at:30/04/2004 color:black layer:back at:04/10/2005 color:black layer:back at:29/07/2008 color:black layer:back at:18/05/2010 color:black layer:back at:12/03/2012 color:black layer:back at:04/10/2013 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Max text:"Max Cavalera" bar:Jackson text:"Jackson Bandeira" bar:Logan text:"Logan Mader" bar:Mikey text:"Mikey Doling" bar:Marc text:"Marc Rizzo" bar:Marcelo text:"Marcelo Dias" bar:Bobby text:"Bobby Burns" bar:Johny text:"Johny Chow" bar:Tony text:"Tony Campos" bar:Roy text:"Roy Mayorga" bar:Joe text:"Joe Nunez" bar:David text:"David Kinkade" bar:Zyon text:"Zyon Cavalera" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Max from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Vocals bar:Max from:01/01/1997 till:end color:Guitar width:2.5 bar:Jackson from:01/01/1997 till:30/05/1998 color:Guitar bar:Logan from:30/05/1998 till:20/01/1999 color:Guitar bar:Mikey from:20/01/1999 till:21/09/2003 color:Guitar bar:Marc from:05/10/2003 till:end color:Guitar bar:Marcelo from:01/01/1997 till:21/09/2003 color:Bass bar:Bobby from:05/10/2003 till:18/07/2010 color:Bass bar:Johny from:19/07/2010 till:30/06/2011 color:Bass bar:Tony from:01/07/2011 till:end color:Bass bar:Roy from:01/01/1997 till:31/12/1999 color:Drums bar:Roy from:01/11/2001 till:21/09/2003 color:Drums bar:Joe from:01/01/2000 till:31/10/2001 color:Drums bar:Joe from:05/10/2003 till:15/08/2011 color:Drums bar:David from:16/08/2011 till:23/10/2012 color:Drums bar:Zyon from:24/02/2012 till:01/03/2012 color:Drums bar:Zyon from:18/11/2012 till:end color:Drums Albums *''Soulfly'' (1998) *''Primitive'' (2000) *''3'' (2002) *''Prophecy'' (2004) *''Dark Ages'' (2005) *''Conquer'' (2008) *''Omen'' (2010) *''Enslaved'' (2012) *''Savages'' (2013) *''Soulfly X'' (2015) Related links * Discography * List of songs